


Asset Alone

by Tashi_Lupin



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Bucky is referred to as The Asset, Gen, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, implied past Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-20 02:23:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2411477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tashi_Lupin/pseuds/Tashi_Lupin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky in the two weeks, one day, and eighteen hours after dragging Steve out of the Potomac.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Asset Alone

**i.**

It has been 22 hours since the asset pulled Captain America out of the Potomac River. He has stopped hiding around the river like a child or a coward. The asset doesn’t want to be a coward. The asset wants to be brave, like the small blonde man he half remembers.

He walks to the nearest safe house, keeping in the shadows of trees and buildings. He doesn’t know why he does not want to be seen. Halfway to the safe house there is a laundry mat. It is closed. Somehow, the asset knows he will draw attention to himself in the clothes he is wearing. He walks in the laundry mat, barely needing to jiggle the lock. He does not feel bad for stealing the clothing he does. He feels bad that he throws away the clothing his handlers had given him. But he does not want attention drawn to him. He changes, clumsily, and moves on. He feels bare and vulnerable. He also feels invisible, which is good. He is a ghost.

**ii.**

Three hours have passed. The asset reaches the safe house and stops before entering. He failed his mission. Again. He will not be welcome. The asset is not allowed to fail. Again. He is afraid of his fate here, but more afraid of a world where he is not given orders. The asset is afraid of pretending to be human. He wants to be brave, like the small man.

_Hey, Bucky?_

The asset blinks and turns. Bucky. Is that what the small blonde called him? Is that his name? He does not remember. He does not think he wants to remember, but he doesn’t want to think at all. He walks away. A man can be lost in New York City. Maybe a ghost can vanish altogether. Maybe he can be Bucky. Maybe he can be a human.

**iii.**

It has been forty two hours since the asset got to the safe house and left it. The asset watches the people around him as he walks on the sidewalk. They rush, must of them. He notices a few children look at his hand. He puts it in his pocket. He does not want to draw attention to himself. Who is he hiding from. The asset doesn’t know.

His throat is dry. He needs water to survive, but doesn’t know where to get it. He shadows a man who looks like he too is a ghost. The other man looks down on his luck. He is unshaven and wears a ratty coat. The asset is also unshaven and the coat he had taken is ratty. He mirrors the man he follows, into a building. Soup Kitchen. The asset follows him into a line and takes a tray as the other man does. It is much easier to copy another person, a human, than make his own decisions. He gets a meal, and breaks from being the other man’s shadow. He eats it in the corner and leaves. The asset does not think anyone has seen his face.

**iv.**

Two weeks have passed since his first visit to the soup kitchen. He only goes when he feels he needs to or else his systems will stop. He sleeps when he can in alleyways and behind garbage bins. The weapon needs repair, it it becoming harder to move it. The asset doesn’t want to go back to his caretakers to have it repaired. He can fix it himself.

_His hands had pliers in them, but both hands were fleshy. He was fixing something with wires as someone talked to him in the background._

The asset spends his times scourging for things he needs to fix himself and sorting through memories. He doesn’t know if they are all his. He likes the ones with the small man the best, though sometimes the small man is a small child and sometimes he is a big soldier who looks like Captain America, but always the asset’s friend. But, also. The asset’s mission.

_I don’t want to fight you. You’re my friend._

The asset pushes those thoughts away. He watches the people around him, but makes sure he hides his face and does not draw attention to himself. He saw they black man who flew once, except running and not flying. The asset avoided the spot he saw him for a while. He sees Captain America. His mission. The small blond man. They all have the same eyes. The asset wants to be brave like him. He wants to face him, and see if he is how the asset remembers him. He follows him, carefully, to his apartment building until it is only the asset and he is out side of Captain America’s door.

_Steve._

The asset holds his breath and knocks.


End file.
